July 13, 2012
Trent J. Perrotto
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0321
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov
Kim Henry
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
kimberly.m.henry@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 12-234
NASA SELECTS SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM ADVANCED BOOSTER PROPOSALS
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected six proposals to improve the
affordability, reliability and performance of an advanced booster for
the Space Launch System (SLS). The awardees will develop engineering
demonstrations and risk reduction concepts for SLS, a heavy-lift
rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human
exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
"The initial SLS heavy-lift rocket begins with the proven hardware,
technology and capabilities we have today and will evolve over time
to a more capable launch vehicle through competitive opportunities,"
said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human
Exploration Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. "While the SLS team is making swift progress on the
initial configuration and building a solid baseline, we also are
looking ahead to enhance and upgrade future configurations of the
heavy lift vehicle. We want to build a system that will be upgradable
and used for decades."
Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft, including NASA's
Orion multipurpose vehicle, for crew and cargo missions SLS will
enable NASA to meet the president's goal of sending humans to an
asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s. The initial SLS
configuration will use two five-segment solid rocket boosters similar
to the solid rocket boosters that helped power the space shuttle to
orbit. The evolved SLS vehicle will require an advanced booster with
significant increase in thrust from any existing U.S. liquid or solid
boosters.
Individual awards will vary with a total NASA investment of as much as
$200 million.
Proposals selected for contract negotiations are:
-- "Subscale Composite Tank Set," Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
Aerospace Systems
-- "Full-Scale Combustion Stability Demonstration," Aerojet General
Corp.
-- "F-1 Engine Risk Reduction Task," Dynetics Inc.
-- "Main Propulsion System Risk Reduction Task," Dynetics Inc.
-- "Structures Risk Reduction Task," Dynetics Inc.
-- "Integrated Booster Static Test," ATK Launch Systems Inc.
"We are building a new national capability to carry astronauts and
science experiments beyond Earth orbit to new destinations in space,"
said Todd May, SLS program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Our industry partners have presented a
variety of options for reducing risk while increasing performance and
affordability, and we're looking forward to seeing their innovative
ideas come to life."
The proposal selections are the first step in the NASA Research
Announcement procurement process. The second step, the formal
contract award, will follow after further negotiations between NASA
and selected organizations. All funded efforts will demonstrate and
examine advanced booster concepts and hardware demonstrations during
a 30-month period. This risk mitigation acquisition precedes the
follow-on design, development, testing and evaluation competition for
the SLS advanced booster currently planned for 2015.
All proposals will be valid for 12 months to allow for a later award
should the opportunity become available, unless withdrawn by the
offeror prior to award. Successful offerors to this NRA are not
guaranteed an award for any future advanced booster acquisition.
The first test flight of NASA's Space Launch System, which will
feature a configuration for a 77-ton (70-metric-ton) lift capacity,
is scheduled for 2017. As SLS evolves, a two-stage launch vehicle
configuration will provide a lift capability of 143 tons (130 metric
tons).
Marshall manages the SLS Program for the agency. For information about
NASA's Space Launch System, visit:
www.nasa.gov/sls
-end-